Disclaimer – Kingdom Hearts and all their places, characters, objects, etc. belong to Disney and Square Enix

Here's the latest chapter and I'm working on the next. R&R is appreciated, thanks.

A quiet pattering sounded from outside the door.

"Guess that'll be the King." Sora looked at Riku and Kairi, the former sitting on a backward chair and the latter on the edge of his bed. It'd been a couple of hours, but Mickey was a king after all, so they should have expected that. They all grinned at each other as the door opened, but when they looked over, expecting the King to be there, they were surprised to find that Queen Minnie was smiling at the trio.

"Your Highness!" They called in unison.

"What happened to the King?" Riku asked first.

"Oh, I told him to come a couple of minutes after me; I wanted to talk with all of you first. Besides, I wanted Sora to get a new outfit like I'd given you two."

"Huh?" Sora looked behind him at his two friends that were now grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Wait, I don't need a new outfit, what's wrong with this one-" He was scrambling for something to say, but the Queen cut in.

"No buts Sora, you're going to love whatever the brooms come up with. Kairi and Riku did." The Queen motioned behind her for someone or something to come in.

"Wait, broom? What d'ya mean BROOMS!" Sora was panicking now while the other two were laughing like hyenas behind him.

"Don't worry Sora, it'll be all right. They won't hurt you, I promise." Kairi chuckled.

"Unless he doesn't like what they give him, you mean. Who would have thought that the big bad Keybearer would be afraid of some brooms?" Riku grinned at Sora's now desperate look.

"Now, kindly follow the brooms Sora. Please." The Queen showed him into the dressing room where the brooms were already setting up some kind of contraption. Before he had a chance to say no, however Minnie pushed his back and sent Sora scrambling inside the room.

"Now, I have to talk to the two of you." Minnie turned back around to the giggling couple. "It's about Sora and Roxas." The way she had separated the names sobered the two up at the mention of Sora's Nobody.

"What about him." Riku spat out, though they had been put back together, Roxas was a bit of a bad memory. Kairi on the other hand looked thoughtful and worried, she'd not come into much contact with the Nobody, but her own Nobody had been the equivalent for Roxas of what she was to Sora.

"When the King heard about what had happened in the Castle foyer with you, Kairi, and Sora, he muttered something and I'm not sure if he knows that I heard what he said. He muttered 'Roxas' and that was all before he disappeared inside of his library. I myself think that the possibility of Roxas showing up outside of Sora after being so long dormant is slim, but . . . well, Kairi, have you had any black outs? Has Namine made any contact with you? Anything?"

"No." The girl told the Queen. "I haven't heard anything from Namine and, at least I thought, that after they came back to us, they became us again."

"That's right; there isn't a way for a Nobody to come back after they've gone back." Riku looked away from the other two and glared out one of the windows.

"Not completely true Riku."

"Your Majesty!" Riku and Kairi looked up to see Mickey Mouse standing in the doorway of the infirmary with a tattered old book in his hands.

"What do you mean, 'not completely true' Mickey?" Fear and anger fought for control of Riku's emotions.

"Well, I was looking through some of my books after Donald told me about what had happened to Sora. As I had thought, there have not been any such occurrences as Sora's. I believed the same as you, Riku, that once Nobodies go back to their Others things would return to normal, but do you remember what Namine told you? That Roxas was . . . different? Remember? She told you that Sora's Nobody was trying uncommonly hard to become his own person, almost unheard of with Nobodies because they remember what it was like to be human and they usually try to continue with that mentality, never escaping what they'd done in their previous life and becoming, in almost all likeness, the same person they were before."

"What do you mean Mi-?"

"I mean, that Roxas may have found a way to return. Perhaps he really did have a heart, or at least part of one, and that 'heart', we'll call it, reacted strongly to seemingly losing his identity."

"So . . . Roxas is out there. Now?" asked Kairi, trying to piece everything together.

"That's the idea, but we'd have to contact Master Yen Sid for more information, I've given you all that I can give."

"Well, then I guess we're heading to The Tower." Everyone turned around to look at Sora; Kairi even cracked a smile at the two brooms that stood on either side of him with their arms raised in a 'taa-daa' fashion. His new outfit, a jacket, shorts, and an undershirt, was a bit like his last one in that aspect, but his undershirt was a dark blue with silver lining and his jacket was a dark blue with various zippers, red pockets, and yellow lining. His pants on the other hand had lines running down and across them and huge pockets that were silver as well; yellows and reds were placed in various places as well.

"How long were you-?"

"Now hold on Mickey, I have to tell Sora about his new clothes. Their power is in almost every way the same as your previous clothes, except that, well I'll let you find out on your own. Oh, I see you have your bandages on still. Let me see your hand." Sora looked up at Riku and Kairi with a questioning look, but all Kairi did was shrug and Riku didn't even look at him. "Ah, I thought so. Look here Sora, Mickey you may want to see this as well." Sora looked down at his hand in the Queen's and was shocked for at what he saw.

"What is that?" Mickey muttered. Riku and Kairi approached the huddle as well and the girl gasped aloud at what she saw while Riku looked enraged.

"Sora, dear," Sora looked up at the Queen. "You've been Marked." The way she said it sounded so final, so definite, but when the brunette looked down at his right hand and saw the little burn mark shaped like a key, he just couldn't see it as anything harmful, but who knew what it really meant.

As soon as Roxas stepped through the door and into the kitchen, noises and sounds of everyday life assaulted his ears and nearly knocked him back down.

"Hey! Who are you?" A strong hand grabbed hold of his shoulder and, with amazing speed, Roxas grabbed the hand and spun around to face a young man. He was brunette and looked to be no more than one or two years younger than Cloud with shaggy, nearly shoulder length hair. His leather jacket with a messy fur collar and jeans tucked into some military style boots gave him the air of an old, grisly warrior. The strap across his chest that ran over his shoulder and held onto some type of sword helped with the idea as well.

"Squall, I see you've met Roxas!" Yuffie had her big grin on and was bouncing up and down on her heels as she looked between Roxas and Squall.

"It's Leon, Yuffie. And this is supposed to be the keyblade master?" Leon/Squall replied sharply, giving Roxas a look over and seeming unimpressed with what he saw, a short chuckle escaped him.

"I am the keyblade master, got a problem with that?" Heat shot to Roxas' cheeks as he had a stare down with Leon. Was it that unbelievable that he would be one of the Keyblades chosen ones? After a few moments, Leon closed his eyes and gave another short laugh and turned to look Yuffie full on.

"Doesn't he remind you of someone?" It took Yuffie a minute, but then she started laughing aloud.

"You're right! I didn't realize it until you acted like that. Wow, didn't you say the same thing to him, too?"

"Who are you guys talking about?" Leon turned back to look down at Roxas, a small smile on his lips. It didn't stay long before it was replaced by his no expression.

"Just a friend that's also a Keybearer. Sora." Roxas stopped breathing. There he was again. Sora. So he was . . . is a Keybearer, too. Dumbstruck at this new development, Roxas slowly moved over to a vacant table and sat down in it, staring at his hands without really looking at them. Why was this happening to him? Why was he the guy that kept getting new things dumped on him? First heartless and keyblades, then new worlds, and what about all these people? Especially that one guy-

"Hey Rox!"

"Speak of the devil," Roxas muttered.

"What did ya say?" Axel asked, taking the seat across from the blonde boy.

"Nothin'," Roxas replied, looking up at the grinning-cat mask the red head was wearing. He was wearing a black coat, zipped up in the front with a hood hanging from the back and silver drawstrings in front. From the look of the jacket, you would think that with all the heat he'd have been sweating rivers instead of looking as cool as a cucumber. Wait, that coat looked familiar . . . wasn't that . . . no, never mind.

"How do you handle it?" He finally asked, trying to be at least a little friendly.

"Handle what?"

"The heat. I mean, if I was wearing that jacket I'd be dead in an hour with this weather." Axel started laughing as soon as he'd said jacket. "What? What's so funny?"

"Oh, uh, heh, nothing. Um, it doesn't seem too hot to me. I mean, it's only 70 degrees."

"Only 70?"

"Yeah, only 70." Axel replied calmly, a reckless grin playing with his lips. The heat wasn't a bother to him at all, in fact he hardly ever was hot, but if it got really cold, well, that was another story. The two of them sat in comfortable silence for a little while after that, neither willing to break the sense of friendship they had between them. It all ended, however, when Tifa Lockhart showed up.

"SO!" She started. "What's for breakfast you two?" The tall young woman was smiling down at the unlikely pair as if she knew a joke they hadn't heard.

"Um-" Roxas was scrambling for words while Axel quickly shifted gears.

"I'll have sunny-side up, toast, and some coffee. Roxas?" The young blonde didn't reply, too dumbstruck to do anything but look like a fish out of water. Axel smiled and asked Tifa for two of what he ordered. "That way you can get something in your stomach. We've got a long day ahead of us, so you might as well be ready for it."

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?" When had this happened? wondered Roxas.

"We're going to visit the wizard Yen Sid. He knows everything there is to know about nearly everything." Roxas looked disbelievingly at the idea of visiting some wizard, but he didn't have time to say anything about it as Tifa came out carrying two plates with a mug of brown stuff on each.

"Thanks." They told her before eating their meals. While they ate Axel told his young companion about Yen Sid, such as the fact he'd taught King Mickey everything he knew and about some of Yen Sid's findings.

"Hey, isn't the King the one who decides who is a Keybearer?"

"Oh- uh, yeah, he's the one. Anyway, about these-"

"I want to meet him."

Crap. Roxas sat in his seat with his toast and eggs barely touched and a stubborn look on his face, whereas Axel's plate looked like someone had eaten eggs then thrown them back up and a worried look gnawed at his playful attitude.

"Have you thought this through?" Delay him Axel, you have to make sure he doesn't remember anything too quickly, especially that part of his life.

"No, only a little bit, but he might be able to answer my questions. Plus, he might be the guy who points me in the direction that those 'heartless' carried my friends off." Roxas had stopped living in the moment as he went misty eyed and looked out of the nearby window at all the shop goers as the gravity of his situation caught up with him again.

"Then you'll meet him."

"Huh?"

"I said you'll meet him. It's not that hard Roxas; we are going to his castle, aren't we?" Take a sip of coffee Ax, you've got to shut your gob before you make more promises that you aren't sure you can keep. When he looked back up Axel noticed that Roxas was gazing into his own coffee mug.

"You know, that's hardly coffee anymore." Keep it simple, don't do anything rash.

"Hmm?" Ah, so he was daydreaming.

"I said that your coffee is hardly coffee anymore. You added a ton of sugar and milk."

"Oh." There he goes again, daydream world. The two of them sat together at their little table in companionable silence as they both roamed around in their own dream worlds, until Axel couldn't stand the silence anymore and broke it.

"All right, see you later." Slowly Axel got up and began to move away from the cafe table.

"Wait!" Roxas called after the retreating figure. "Um, I have some more questions . . . would you mind talking with me?"

No, not at all. Come on, let's talk like we used to! "Maybe later, I've got some things I've got to do."

"Oh." Roxas watched the fleeing red head disappear into the doorway from whence he came. Feeling as a discarded toy might have, Roxas finished his breakfast and left some munny for Tifa. Best time to go out, nobody was watching. The pub had gotten more and more crowded as the conversation had carried on. Most of the people sitting down were cramming as many people as they could fit into a single booth. The door was only a few tables away and if he didn't look like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to, he might just reach the door and make it out. Worth a try, right?

Getting up out of his chair was simple; no one cared what an eighteen year old did as long as it didn't concern them.

"Come-on," he muttered. "Just a little further." No one he'd seen in his room nor those that he'd been introduced to saw him and he wondered how long it'd take for them to even notice he was gone with all of the people there.

Gently Roxas pushed the door open and then he was gone. Disappearing into the early shopping crowds that were beginning to fill the streets. The sun blinded him temporarily as Roxas took his first step outside in . . . how long? Six days? A heavy sigh escaped Roxas at the harsh reminder of how much time had passed and how long the heartless had to get a head start. Pence, Hayner, and Olette could be in major trouble and he couldn't do anything about it! Those thoughts piled on top of him, crushing and squeezing his heart as he walked back to the apartments by memory. The recurring headache struck again, but no vision, of any sort, followed suit and he continued picking away at the distance between the apartment and himself.

Finally, he arrived at his destination after passing through the markets. For a moment, Roxas wondered if he could enter the apartments as his muscles had frozen and tensed as if something physical was about to hurt him. He warred with himself about what had happened and a part of him was scared of what he would find in their rooms.

Slowly, Roxas walked up to the door, walked through the entrance, and got onto the lift. He started going up, up, and up to the top floor. Ding! The lift had arrived. The doors opened and he saw the apartment. And nothing had changed.

"Strange." He had expected the normalcy of the rooms to have changed drastically after their occupants' violent abduction, but nothing had been disturbed. The doors that branched off from the main living area were all closed shut and the kitchen was a bit messy, but everything seemed normal. He half expected the three kids he'd been staying with to come in laughing at some joke they'd heard, but after a couple of minutes just examining things Roxas was still alone.

He continued to roam through the apartment's quarters as a ghost and when he'd entered his room he had started at how clean it was and thought Olette had come through on one of her cleaning crusades. Except Yuffie had come here, the young man thought to himself gloomily. Finally satisfied that things were . . . normal, Roxas sat down at the table with a glass of water. Nearly an hour and a half had passed by and no one had come looking for him from the pub.

"Wonder if they even know I'm gone by now."

"Yeah, they're pretty sure you're MIA." Roxas leapt out of his seat and dashed to the other side of the table as soon as the voice had finished speaking. Axel stood in the door way of the apartment, looking both playful and irritated at the same time.

"Oh, hey Axel." Roxas said, surprised at his reaction time and looking confused that Axel was the one to come looking for him, even if he was the one who seemed to show the most interest in Roxas' state of mind. The tall, lanky man moved forward with a cat's grace and stopped once he'd reached the side of the table Roxas had just ran from.

"What's with the reaction shrimp, do I scare you that much?" He let out a low chuckle.

"N-no, I was just surprised that someone had come to get me." I just hadn't expected you of all people to come.

"Oh really. . . Hmph. Well, you are the main reason we're all going to Yen Sid's place, so pack your bag if you really need something. Check out your room if you want to find something I suggest." Swiftly the young blonde ran into his room, grabbed what he needed, and ran back out to meet Axel at the lift's entrance. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, here we go." The pair rode the lift down and exited the apartments quickly, both hoping that this wizard, Yen Sid, would be able to answer their questions.

"Where are the others. And, how are we supposed to get to Yen Sid's? Does he live nearby? Because I've never heard of -,"

"Don't worry." Axel cut in. "They're meeting us at the train station since there's only one time thtat the train passes through Twilight Town." Axel paused for a moment and then resumed the conversation. "I'm not surprised you've never heard of him, he likes his privacy. So, mind leading the way?" After the red head had finished speaking they quickly wove in and out of passer-bys and made their way towards the large clock tower that silently watched over the comings and goings of people. The streets were still filled with people milling around, but the crowd had thinned as the lunch hour came. Mothers called to their children in high pitch voices, the strain of a day at the beach already weighing on them. A few times Roxas and Axel had to dodge on-coming families and couples that wanted a head start for the best spots on the beach.

The silence between them, despite the hollering that was erupting all around, was as permeable as a granite boulder. Roxas took careful, hidden glances at the taller man, but when he looked over at him the bright, sea green jewels always seemed to find his own sky blues. A slight cat grin appeared on the red-head's face and he narrowed his eyes mischievously so that his already high, black tear drops rose even further up his cheeks.

"What'cha lookin' at squirt?" Axel teased, knocking his fist lightly against Roxas' shoulder.

"Nothing." Roxas looked back ahead of him as they picked their way up the hill that rose up the center of town. Shops passed by and soon they were looking up at the town's train station. The clock tower rose high above them and as Roxas watched the minute hand tick away their time a sense of déjà vu struck him in the head.

An aching pain rushed thru his heart as an image of a girl with black hair appeared at his fee. She was looking up at him with such care and loss that tears erupted, clouding his vision of the black haired girl. She had appeared to be speaking to him, or so he thought, and her clothes looked very much like Axel's, but. . . All he heard was his own voice calling out 'Xion!' over and over again as his chest shattered. The image took forever to fade away, but when it had finally left him all he saw was darkness.

"Roxas! Roxas! Look at me Rox!" Axel called out to the slight blonde. The boy had just fallen over and started to scream his lungs out for Xion. 'Why now?' Axel muttered to himself. He tried shaking the eighteen year old's shoulders, but it only seemed to make his vision worse as he began to call out the name louder and louder. "Roxas! Come on, wake up!" The few people that were at the train station started to whisper among themselves about the spiky red-head and the unconscious blond. They shot furtive glances in their direction, their mouths hidden behind hands. They weren't even going to try to help them out, this was all just some sick entertainment to them.

"Come on Roxas. Wake up, will you?" Axel would give him till the count of ten before running for help.

One . . .

The entrance of the train station burst open as Leon and Cloud heard the commotion.

Two . . .

"Axel!" Cloud called out as he quickly descended the stairs. "What happened?"

Three . . .

"I don't know! He keeps calling for Xion, but-,"

Four . . .

"But what?" Leon asked, kneeling on the other side of Roxas, struggling to keep the boys flailing limbs from doing any harm to anyone.

Five . . .

"Who's Xion?"

Six . . .

"Have you slapped him yet?"

"No!"

"Water?"

"Does it look like I carry around a frikkin' glass of water?"

Seven . . .

"Move." Cloud pushed Axel away from the screaming boy.

Eight . . .

"What're you gonna do?" Axel wondered out loud. Cloud removed his broadsword from its strap.

Nine . . .

"If he is a Keybearer, he'll protect himself. I mean, if he's really a keybearer." With that Cloud swung downwards with his sword as if ready to hack Roxas' head clean off of his body.

TEN!

"NO!" Roxas' eyes shot wide open into the terrifying sight of Cloud's broadsword swinging down at him. With a swift jerk of his hands, his black and white keyblades were up and guarding him. The block, however, sent his arms shaking and it was all he could do to roll out of the way and on top of Leon's boot, should Cloud decide to go crazy again.

"The HELL do you think you're doing?" Axel screaming in Cloud's face. The stoic blond looked completely unfazed at the act he'd just committed. "You could've KILLED him, y'know!"

"But I didn't." Cloud turned back around and made his way back towards the train station. Leon got up and followed after him.

"Damn Cloud. Always being such a pain in the ass." Axel muttered a few more strings of complaints as he followed the two stoics, leaving Roxas to bring up the rear. He barely even glanced over at the many yammering groups of people squealing about what they'd just seen.